East Carolina’s Robin Smith carded an opening round of 66 (tying his personal best) at the 2005 Conference USA Men’s Golf Championships and currently sits in first place in the individual standings with a one-stroke lead over TCU’s Colby Beckstrom. The 67 by Beckstrom has helped three-time defending champion TCU jump out to an eight-stroke lead in the team rankings after the first round of play. The tournament is being played at the par-72, 7,093-yard Grand Bear Golf Club in Gulfport, Miss.

Garrett Osborn of UAB and Clint Deibert of Charlotte each recorded rounds of 68 and are in third-place, while Tulane's Michael Thompson and TCU's Janes Sacheck are tied for fifth after shooting rounds of 69.

In the team portion of the event, TCU has a commanding lead over the field after a first round team score of 278, 10-under par. UAB is in second with a two-under par 286. Charlotte (289) and Tulane (289) are tied for fourth, while Houston (293) sits alone in fifth.

The teams play 18 holes on Tuesday before a final round on Wednesday. Tee times both days start at 7:45 a.m. Central Time.



2005 C-USA Men's Golf Championship
Grand Bear G.C.; Gulfport, Miss.
April 18-20, 2005
7,093-yard, par 72

TEAM STANDINGS

1. TCU 278 -10
2. UAB 286 -2
3. Charlotte 289 +1
Tulane 289
5. Houston 293 +5
6. Louisville 296 +8
7. East Carolina 297 +9
8. Southern Miss 298 +10
9. Memphis 301 +13
10. Marquette 306 +18
11. Cincinnati 309 +21
12. Saint Louis 313 +25
13. DePaul 315 +27
14. USF 316 +28

INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS

1. Robin Smith, East Carolina 33- 33 66 -6
2. Colby Beckstrom, TCU 34- 33 67 -5
3. Garrett Osborn, UAB 32- 36 68 -4
Clint Deibert, Charlotte 33- 35 68
5. Michael Thompson, Tulane 35- 34 69 -3
James Sacheck, TCU 34- 35 69
7. Drew Stoltz, TCU 35- 35 70 -2
8. Daryl Fathauer, Louisville 36- 35 71 -1
Chris Cousins, UAB 38- 33 71
Michael Soroka, Southern Miss 35- 36 71
Kevin Newman, Houston 35- 36 71
12. Chris Wheeler, Tulane 35- 37 72 E
David Schultz, TCU 37- 35 72
Kyle Ritchie, Tulane 38- 34 72
15. Justin Elliott, Southern Miss 37- 36 73 +1
J.J. Killeen, TCU 39- 34 73
Ryan Thomas, UAB 36- 37 73
Danny Dennis, Southern Miss 37- 36 73
Ted Gray, Marquette 35- 38 73
Ray Sheedy, Charlotte 39- 34 73
21. Pablo Acuna, Houston 33- 41 74 +2
Derek Fathauer, Louisville 37- 37 74
Matt Mincer, Charlotte 36- 38 74
Ricky Romano, Houston 37- 37 74
Jordan Irwin, Houston 37- 37 74
Clark Brown, UAB 36- 38 74
Adam Rainaud, Louisville 37- 37 74
Robbie Greenwell, Memphis 39- 35 74
Trevor Murphy, Charlotte 35- 39 74
30. Andrew DiBitetto, Charlotte 37- 38 75 +3
Brad Quiri, USF 38- 37 75
Ian Rochester, Memphis 40- 35 75
John Clodfelder, Cincinnati 37- 38 75
34. Matthew McMahon, DePaul 38- 38 76 +4
Andy Shiels, Memphis 36- 40 76
Bill Roach, Jr., Tulane 36- 40 76
Steve Sass, Marquette 36- 40 76
Justin Miers, Memphis 35- 41 76
Chris Ault, East Carolina 41- 35 76
Zach Mowbray, Houston 37- 39 76
41. Adam Howell, East Carolina 35- 42 77 +5
Keven Fortin-Simard, Memphis 35- 42 77
Charlie Woo, Louisville 37- 40 77
Kaylor Timmons, UAB 40- 37 77
Kyle Pinger, Cincinnati 37- 40 77
Michael Bielawski, Marquette 37- 40 77
47. Geoff Newman, Cincinnati 39- 39 78 +6
David Perritt, Saint Louis 39- 39 78
Brandon Pace, East Carolina 38- 40 78
Tony Harmon, Saint Louis 39- 39 78
Brett Jones, Louisville 40- 38 78
Barry O'Neil, Saint Louis 40- 38 78
53. Adam Fluty, Cincinnati 40- 39 79 +7
Evan Frederick, Saint Louis 40- 39 79
Jason Elliott, USF 38- 41 79
Philip Reale, II, East Carolina 37- 42 79
Kyle Patterson, DePaul 38- 41 79
58. Kyle Murphy, Marquette 37- 43 80 +8
Will Cumberland, DePaul 39- 41 80
Tyler Hitchcock, USF 42- 38 80
Joe Young, Cincinnati 37- 43 80
Ryan Blechle, Saint Louis 39- 41 80
Dustin Wickenhauser, DePaul 41- 39 80
64. Joe Weber, Marquette 43- 38 81 +9
Austin Bowen, Southern Miss 38- 43 81
Michael Birtel, Tulane 40- 41 81
67. Pablo Ceron, USF 38- 44 82 +10
68. Josh Scarborough, DePaul 43- 43 86 +14
69. Ryan Shears, USF 43- 44 87 +15
DQ Kyle Ramey, Southern Miss